Back when many towns were still figuring out the benefits of sustainability, and others didn’t embrace or even understand it, a few key people in Morristown were starting a grassroots movement that quickly caught on and spread through the business community, residents and the town government.

Sustainability activist Paul Miller, local businessman Marty Epstein, and Joel Harmon, executive director of the Institute of Sustainable Enterprise at Fairleigh Dickinson University, are the founders of the movement in Morristown.

Soon there were so many people who wanted to be involved that it was evident they needed a central hub, a clearinghouse of sorts, to disseminate information and help those interested to get organized.

And Sustainable Morristown was born.

The organization identifies itself as “a coalition of like-minded institutions, organizations, businesses and individuals of all ages committed to working together to ensure the economic, environmental and social well-being of Morristown to the benefit of current residents and visitors as well as future generations.”

And for each of the founders, as well as everyone else who has joined the cause, that’s what it really comes down to: the future. Miller, Epstein and Harmon see themselves as interim leaders and are looking to hand the reins to the next generation, who will take up the cause and continue to make the right changes to ensure a green, sustainable future for generations still to come.

“I have been championing sustainability from the get-go,” said Epstein, who owns Marty’s Reliable Cycle shops in Morristown, Randolph and Hackettstown. “I’m on the board of the Morristown Partnership and back when sustainability was beginning to be talked about, I started a committee to help get the ball rolling here.”

The committee began to develop an action plan to bring sustainability awareness and activity to the forefront of Morristown’s strategic thinking and community development. In 2008, with help from the Morristown Partnership and funding from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the group enlisted the cause-related communications firm, Design for Social Impact, and hired a project coordinator.

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Through this expanded effort, the “Step Ahead Morristown” campaign was born to lead a two-year effort to successfully bring Morristown into a leadership position within the sustainable community arena.

“Step Ahead really brought the issue of sustainability to the forefront and helped us get the idea out there not only of what sustainability is, but what it could do for the town,” Epstein explained.

Epstein said his mantra has always been that sustainability is good for business.

“For the business community, I always said if we define our community as one that is practicing the principles of sustainability, we will attract and retain new businesses and residents who resonate with sustainability,” he said.

As the committee really got rolling, more businesses in town started practicing sustainability.

“It became such a hot topic that Mayor (Tim) Dougherty and his opponent both ran on platforms of sustainability, at least in part,” he said. “It was awesome and made us realize that sustainability’s time really had come. And Mayor Dougherty has been instrumental in seeing a lot of these programs through.”

Part of that was the establishment of an Office of Sustainability, located in town hall and overseen by Miller. Morristown is one of only a few communities in the country that has such an office, which helped shift part of the focus from just the business community to the town as a whole.

“A program like this usually starts with citizens and germinates from there,” Epstein said. “We were one of the only, if not the only, program that started with the business community, then went out to everyone else.”

Epstein said the Dodge Foundation has continued to be a key part of Sustainable Morristown, not only by continuing to provide funding but by practicing what they preach. Their building at 14 Maple Ave. is LEED certified. It has a green roof, complete with vegetables and fruit plants; and an interior biowall, a three-story marvel of plants and water that is often its own draw for visitors.

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Marty’s Reliable Cycles became a silver LEED-certified building two years ago, and other businesses have been following suit as have some some churches and synagogues that are housed in older buildings not known for their energy efficiency. All these changes and attention to sustainability helped Morristown become one of the first communities in the state to attain certification from Sustainable Jersey.

Many departments within the municipal government have come under scrutiny for their sustainability practices, and Miller helped save the town some money by changing the way they were buying their electricity. Solar panels are helping to power the town’s wastewater treatment plant, and they’re making appearances in other places as well, including a downtown parking garage and a new affordable housing complex on Abbett Avenue.

Miller said many people think of sustainability as just recycling, or taking steps toward living green but environmental awareness is really only one-third of the issue.

“We really look at three guiding principles: environmental awareness – we need to sustain the planet so it has the ability to continue to support life; a strong local economy – locally sourcing, keeping dollars circulating within the local economy; and meeting the social needs of the community – we are very in tune with the social needs of Morristown’s broad and diverse population. We call it the three P’s: people, planet and prosperity.”

Miller said the entire Sustainable Morristown program has been an evolution, started by people who have long been living by its principles.